To the human mind, God’s actions in history often appear absurd. When nations tremble, empires rise and fall, and the religion of civilization hangs in the balance, we expect action from kings, generals, scholars, or great ecclesiastical princes. Particularly in an era such as ours—an era that has witnessed two world wars, international terrorism, nuclear brinkmanship, mass migration, and the emergence of technologies capable of reshaping society overnight.
We expect giants to move the giant chess pieces on the board. We expect history to be directed by those who possess wealth, influence, armies, and authority. When such figures fail us—or disappear altogether—we stagger in confusion and wonder what will happen next.
But what has the Lord done to prime our people for all of this madness? In the case of Fatima and La Salette, He sent Christ’s mother to speak to children. So…why this decision? Why make this choice as the vector for transmitting crucial information to us?
The Confusion of People Today
The world is obviously a geopolitical mess. There are marvelous modern tools at our disposal, but there are corresponding malevolent abuses of them. So, too, in the Catholic Church. This Divine Institution can reach across the globe to all ports and provinces, but we’ve never seen the Church with the kinds of problems we are now having to endure.
Particularly with the Catholic hierarchy, we see that it no longer inspires. The leadership no longer give us the confidence it used to. Bishops and prelates used to be steady guides through the storms of history. The Church was once an immovable guide that helped us keep our bearings no matter what was going on in the world. It was an ancient structure that stood like a stone lighthouse against the worst storms.
Now? The most polite thing to say is that Catholics are disoriented. There are now many controversies that were previously unthinkable. The faithful are bewildered by mixed messages, public disputes, and a seeming reluctance by the hierarchy to speak plainly on matters of faith and morals. A lot of us already see this, and there have been many different traditionalist responses to this ongoing crisis for the past sixty years. People are sincerely trying their best to deal with this in the only ways they know how.
This ongoing situation persists because no one in an appropriate leadership position is willing to straighten it out. The clear dogma of the Faith taught in Scriptures and handed down for two thousand years is not being explicitly proclaimed anymore. Thus, the faithful constantly feel gaslit.
And what can laity or low-level clergy do to change any of this? They are at the mercy of others. They lack authority and hold no consequential office. Regular people cannot compel anyone with power to listen to them. They cannot solve the crisis—even though they know something terrible is happening. They can only receive the Faith, believe it, persevere, suffer, and hold fast to what Scripture and Tradition tell them. This is the lot of the ordinary Catholic today.
Powerless Children
When I say “powerless children” here, it almost sounds like I’m still referring to confused 21st Century laity. But no—I am literally talking about all children. Because children do not know what they are doing. They are the weakest people that we have. They don’t even know what they don’t know. They are so malleable. So naïve. So easily tricked. They really need grown-ups to help them to avoid being psychologically abused so that they may grow up to be fully-mature people.
Don’t get me wrong, though. Children possess many virtues. They are humble, trusting, and receptive. They are not hardened into cynical, jaded, prideful people. They lack that air of self-importance that accumulates in adulthood. They are more willing to believe what they see and hear—even if it puts them at odds with everything around them. It is not, exactly, that children are “wise,” but more that they are unusually open to receiving wisdom from others.
Children are suitable recipients of grace. No doubt, this is likely one reason that Our Lord sent His Mother to speak to the three shepherd children at Fatima, Portugal. Or even at La Salette, France, for that matter.
Fatima’s Children
Let us focus on the children of Fatima; consider who they were, specifically. They were not the sons and daughters of nobles, politicians, scholars, or churchmen. They were shepherd children from a poor, agricultural community far removed from the centers of political and ecclesiastical power.
Their parents were from one of the humblest strata of society. They were disconnected from many institutions. They possessed no appreciable wealth, no influence, no formal education, and no special standing among the powerful. No government official would have sought their counsel. No bishop would have consulted them on matters of state. They were, by every worldly measure, entirely insignificant.
And yet it was to these children that Heaven entrusted a message concerning the fate of nations, the spread of error throughout the world, the persecution of the Church, and the salvation of countless souls.
But okay: we’ve seen this before, have we not? David and Goliath come to mind. Young Joseph versus the brothers who threw him down a well is another familiar story. Or even young Samuel, to whom God spoke directly while the aged priest Eli struggled to recognize the Lord’s voice. In all these stories, we see the repeated motif of God choosing the young innocents over the adults who should know better.
But isn’t there more than just a motif with God’s choice of the Fatima children? Could there be an even more profound message with His decision?
Consider this: God was telling these three humble peasant children the fate of the world. And yet, these young souls lacked authority, held no consequential office, could not compel anyone with power to listen to them or take them seriously, and they certainly couldn’t solve the world’s crisis. They were only able to receive God’s supernatural graces and practice the Faith.
If that sounds familiar, it’s because I already said this about the laity near the beginning of this article.
Typological Powerlessness
Just like the Fatima children, we the laity hold no authority. Like them, all we can do is receive God’s graces and practice the Faith. They are us, and we are them. Their example was a window, showing the world just who would be the ultimate players in the world’s Final Game. It was us.
The Fatima children were an example of where we would be in all of this 21st Century world drama. As though God were saying: “The people of that time will be as vulnerable and helpless as these children.” Lucia, Jacinta, and Francisco weren’t going to fix Russia, reform governments, or correctly steer Vatican councils. They were subjected to the whims of the powerful.
In fact, consider what happened to them. They were seized by the Freemasonic local civil administrator, interrogated, and jailed. He (and many others) tried to force them to reveal the secret Our Lady gave them. Threatened with death, the children were questioned repeatedly—and even placed among common prisoners. Their families and neighbors were pressured. The children were accused of lying. Lucia’s own household didn’t believe her. They were mocked by the villagers. Regarded as troublemakers, they still had to carry these heavy, heavy visions and messages about Hell and world cataclysm. And Francisco and Jacinta later suffered intensely from illness before dying young.
That is us.
We, in this day and age, are set to be arrested. We will be pressured, interrogated, jailed, and thrown in among criminals. Our peers and families will socially shame us for our beliefs. We will be laughed at. And as it all happens, we will have the heavy burden of knowing what, exactly, the score is. And when the moment of our death arrives, it might not be the glorious retirement we hope for.
We are them, and they are us. Marginalized, vulnerable—unofficial. There are so many important things that need to be officially carried out, and the people who acknowledge the reality of what is going on can’t do it because that’s not our office in life. This dilemma shows who we are and where we are at. This is not unplanned or unforeseen. God knew what would happen in these times we are living through, and He has been telling us all this time in many ways. Perhaps our lot feels unique, awkward, or unconventional, but this all happened in type to the Fatima children. God is so good that He warned us about it, and gave us living examples. They were small, simple, and humble so that we can readily relate to them. Yet they were heroic. We have to use their example and Heaven’s instructions to get through this exceedingly difficult crisis and work towards the salvation of many souls.
Conclusion
Jesus knew we’d be in the predicament we find ourselves today. He knew our level of innocence, gullibility, and susceptibility to being fooled. So He warned us. He said to take heed that no one seduce us, and that many would come in His Name, saying “I am Christ.” And He said that many would be tricked. And Our Lord even told us such deceivers would try to win us over with wonders and spectacle.
But the holy examples have been laid before us so many times.
We are the one that has to fling rocks at giants. We are the one who, like Joseph, will be thrown down into a pit and who will be sold into slavery, suffering for the present without yet seeing the purpose behind it. We are the young boy Samuel, hearing the voice of God amidst the darkness while the authorities around us struggle to recognize It. And of course, we are shepherd children who, knowing the fate of civilization, can’t compel ‘the great ones of the world’ to heed Heaven’s warnings. We are helpless before forces far greater than ourselves.
We are not alone. Our story, humanity’s story, remains constant.
The lesson of Fatima goes deeper than any of us realize. Heaven did not merely choose children because “children are humble.” Heaven also chose children because children were the perfect image of the faithful Catholics who would one day confront crises far larger than themselves.
Like Lucia, Jacinta, and Francisco, we possess little authority. We cannot direct nations. We cannot govern the Church. We cannot compel others to believe what Heaven has revealed. We can only receive the Faith, remain steadfast amidst confusion, suffer what must be suffered, and faithfully transmit and hold fast to what our ancient forefathers handed down to us.
In this sense, the children of Fatima were not merely messengers. They were living prophetic signs. One might even say…another secret of Fatima.
